LaVoce Italiana SAF185.00
LaVoce SAF185.00: 18″ subwoofer driver with ferrite motor, 5″ voice coil and Qts 0.23 – the manufacturer specifies 110 L bass reflex with 42 Hz tuning.
Current · Last checked: 2026-09-28
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General data
Link to section “General data”- Type
- Subwoofer driver
- Nominal size
- 18″
- Nominal impedance
- 8 Ω Manufacturer
- Minimum impedance
- 7.5 Ω Manufacturer
- Sensitivity
- 98 dB Manufacturer
- Frequency range
- 30 Hz – 1,000 Hz Manufacturer
- Voice coil Ø
- 125 mm Manufacturer
- Winding height
- not available
- Gap depth
- not available
- Flux density
- not available
- Magnet
- ferrite
- Weight
- 20.1 kg Manufacturer
- Baffle cut-out Ø
- 423 mm Lavoce gives no cutout diameter. The value is the basket diameter directly behind the flange according to the dimensional drawing, i.e. the minimum size of the cutout; one to two millimetres of clearance make installation easier. Manufacturer
- Overall diameter
- 460 mm Manufacturer
- Mounting depth
- 219 mm Overall depth including flange; 201.4 mm from the rear of the flange. Manufacturer
- Displacement
- 8.6 L Manufacturer
- Recommended enclosure volume
- 110 – 110 L Manufacturer
The product page gives no measurement condition for sensitivity. As the enclosure LaVoce gives 110 L with 42 Hz tuning – a remarkably small volume for an 18″, which matches the low Qts of 0.23.
What can this driver do?
Link to section “What can this driver do?”Simulation from the datasheet values above. The suggestions are calculated, not stated by the manufacturer.
The EBP is above 130 – by the rule of thumb, this points to a vented enclosure and also makes the driver interesting for horns. This is based on an EBP of 141.7.
- Net volume
- 56.5 L
- Tuning frequency
- 59 Hz
- F3 (−3 dB)
- 57.5 Hz
- F6 (−6 dB)
- 51.8 Hz
- F10 (−10 dB)
- 45.8 Hz
- Sensitivity (2.83 V / 1 m)
- 97.8 dB
- Max. SPL at 57.5 Hz
- 126.9 dB
- Max. SPL at 115 Hz
- 129.9 dB
- Xmax limits below
- 42.4 Hz
- Ports
- 1 × 200 mm
- Port area for 17 m/s
- 556 cm²
- Max. port velocity
- 30.1 m/s
- Port length
- 33.1 cm
- at 1,600 W
- Maximum SPL (limited by Xmax)
- Power into 8 Ω (nominal impedance of the wiring).
- Flattest alignment: lowest F3 without the response rising more than 0.25 dB above the passband level or dropping more than 0.5 dB at 2 × F3.
- The 17 m/s limit (about 5 % of the speed of sound) is a common rule of thumb against port noise, not a standard. Rounded port ends allow higher values.
- Lumped-element Thiele/Small model, Half space, 1 m, chamber losses QL 7, Le as a plain inductance, no room influence. At high levels (heating, non-linear Bl and Cms) real results are lower.
Thiele-Small parameters
Link to section “Thiele-Small parameters”Small-signal parameters as stated by the manufacturer. They change with temperature and level.
Plausibility check
Link to section “Plausibility check”We recalculate dependent values from the datasheet. We flag deviations above 3 %.
| Check | Formula | Datasheet | Calculated | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qts from Qes and Qms | Qts = Qes · Qms / (Qes + Qms) | 0.23 | 0.231 | consistent |
Power handling
Link to section “Power handling”- AES1,600 W
- Programme power3,200 W
Sources
Link to section “Sources”-
Tier A · primary source
LaVoce SAF185.00 (8 Ω) – Product page with Thiele-Small parameters
LaVoce Italiana S.r.l. · accessed on 28 September 2026